Diplomats Aiming for Successful Showing at EIWA’s

LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall's is set to compete at this weekend's Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) DI Championships, hosted by Bucknell. The Diplomats are looking to build off a successful showing at last year's event that saw F&M advance multiple members to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

To watch a video preview of the EIWA Championships, featuring head coach Mike Rogers and 125-pounder Edgar Garcia, click here.

A Look at the EIWAs: This year's 113th EIWA Championships are being hosted by Bucknell University. F&M has found success at the tournament throughout its illustrious history, producing 104 place winners and 10 EIWA Champions.

EIWA Brackets: Tournament seeds and brackets were announced Thursday evening following the seeding meeting and are available here.

DI Qualifier Allocations Released: The NCAA announced the qualifier allocations for the 2017 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, with the EIWA receiving a total of 42 spots, second only to the Big Ten with 76.

At-Large Announcement: After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 49 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on Wednesday, March 8.

All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches' ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage.

Last Year's EIWAs: Rick Durso won the second Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championship of his career; Antonio Pelusi secured fifth place to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, and Scott Stevens took eighth at 133 to cap off one of the most successful conference championships for F&M in recent memory.

Mancini Ranked No. 27 in RPI: In the second release of the 2016-17 season's RPI rankings, 184-pounder Anthony Mancini placed No. 27 on the list. Just five EIWA wrestlers were given a higher ranking at 184, led by Cornell's Gabe Dean at No. 7.

The Rating Percentage Index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank wrestlers based upon an individual's wins and losses and their strength of opponents.

Wrestlers in each weight class will be measured by winning percentage, RPI and coaches' rankings to earn spots in their qualifying tournaments for the 2017 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

Video For EIWAs (Subscription Required): Every match of the tournament will be available for viewing. Flowrestling, as part of its Flo Pro live streaming programming, is producing the live streams in their entirety.

For those not already subscribed to the Flo Pro service, a monthly subscription costs $30.00, and a yearly subscription costs $150.00. To sign up, click here.

Among the DI Leaders:Paddy Quinlan and Dan Martoccio are both just outside of the NCAA DI Fall Leaders Top-10 list. Each of the F&M grapplers has recorded nine pins on the year.

Quinlan and Martoccio are on a historic pace, already ranking in a tie for fifth on the all-time season pin's list. Quinlan has a total of 17 in his career.

King Moving up the Charts: Standing at 20-11 on the season, redshirt senior Robbie King now holds a 73-60 career record, which is good for the 11th-most wins in program history. He needs just two more to crack the top 10.

Pins Leaders: Following Quinlan and Martoccio's team-leading nine falls, LiCastri is next with six. King and Mancini each have five. Cole Aaron, who is competing on a redshirt, has accumulated six pins.